Tech Tools to Help you Snooze

Technology can hinder or help you sleep. Here are some tech tips & tools to help you get the most out of your sleep!

1) Sleep Better App

Turn your smartphone into an automatic sleep diary and smart alarm.

Sleep Better App, a member of the health and fitness suite of apps by Runtastic, is a great tool for helping you understand your sleep cycles. If you are having problems getting to sleep or waking up in the middle of the night, Sleep Better is designed to help you figure out what might be making you have restless nights. The app automatically keeps a daily diary of your sleep cycles and behaviors that might affect your sleep.

With a few taps you can select which behaviors are relevant that day – Worked out, Stressful day, Not my bed, Ate late, Caffeine, Alcohol. Then tuck your smartphone (Android or iOS) under your pillow. Sleep Better detects your movement and uses the sensors built in to the phones to determine your sleep activity. Based on active movements during your sleep, Sleep Better app determines if you have awake moments, light sleep or deep sleep (no movement for approximately 15 mins).

A daily sleep diary is automatically created showing sleep efficiency, graphs, how long you slept, your daily behavior and an optional dream notes. Over time you can see trends in your sleep patterns using the automatically generated statistics for the week, month, year and overall. These help you determine which behaviors most effect your sleep patterns. Trying to do this manually is cumbersome and nearly impossible to create a consistent picture of behaviors, sleep patterns and resulting statistics.

Direct Download Links

Price:

Base features – Free

Pro Version – $1.99

2) The Brand New Dreampad

A high-tech pillow with built-in sound and vibration for improved sleep

When I agreed to review this product I was concerned it would be too gimmicky for my attention. However, after testing it and hearing about its humble beginnings, I have become convinced that is has true value for those with sleeping issues.

The first Dreampad was developed in 2010 as a product for children with autism, learning differences and anxiety. The Dreampad’s soothing sounds and vibrations helped calm the children and ultimately helped them sleep better. The results were so positive that parents starting asking for a similar product for them. Therefore, in 2016 the Dreampad Pillow was introduced.

The Dreampad comes “wired” with the ability to play gentle music and vibrate lightly. The calming sounds and vibration create a calming effect that helps lull you to sleep. You connect the pillow to your smartphone directly or through Bluetooth to select the music and volume.

This is a brand new product that begins shipping in December 2016. For more information visit their

More Info

Price

Ranges: $149 – $189

3) Beddit

A comprehensive sleep tracker device and app

Beddit is a comprehensive sleep tracker with a corresponding app that provides details on sleep, heart rate, breathing, snoring and the environment. It uses a device that straps to your mattress and stays plugged in so that it automatically starts/stops recording when you get in and out of the bed. This is a new product and was just brought to market this year.

The app analysis the information stored about your sleep patterns. You can see trends and what works best.

The primary differences between an app like Sleep Better or Beddit, is that Beddit auto detects when you go to sleep so you never miss a day of recording data. Sleep Better is free but may not be as convenient and records a little less detail. Both offer a detailed analysis and sleeping trends. Beddit’s product offers a few more statistics like snoring information and heart rate.